Ambassador Fischer: We are witnessing trend against liberalism; entire process is wrapped in metaphysical veil

“We are witnessing a trend against liberalism, and part of the Georgian narrative is very clear: they invoke ‘liberal fascism’, do they not? That is what they are fighting, what they are opposing. We, for our part, genuinely believe that Germany is a liberal democracy. That is our constitution. That is the lesson learned from our history,” declared Peter Fischer, German Ambassador to Georgia, in an interview with Radio Free Europe.

Fischer stated that the German constitution declares the very opposite of the Nazi state: the citizen comes first, the citizen’s rights and their protection by the state.

In the Ambassador’s view, liberal democracies currently face many challenges, and freedom has its price, though it is far preferable to the alternative.

Fischer explained that the alternative on offer is culture wars, conspiracy theories, relentless propaganda and disinformation, keeping everyone in a state of perpetual agitation, with new scandals every day.

“Society must be free. The individual must be free. The treaties of the European Union say as much. We are liberal democracies. Liberal democracies, of course, now face many challenges. As I have already said, nothing is perfect. We argue endlessly about a great many things. We have the rule of law. Matters are resolved in the courts. Sometimes decisions take a long time. Freedom has its price. Nevertheless, we are convinced that it is far preferable to the alternative.

The alternative on offer is culture wars, conspiracy theories, relentless propaganda and disinformation, keeping everyone in a state of perpetual agitation, with new scandals every day, and the idea that ‘we are in the right, our country, our party, we are surrounded by enemies who constantly wish to defeat us, who wish us ill, who want to drag us into a situation not of our choosing.’ That is a fabricated narrative. It is not the truth. Accompanying it are nationalism, authoritarianism, and the idea of having a strong leader who will make clear decisions. Accompanying it is the idea of a strong party that embodies the will of the people, and accompanying it is nativism: ‘our people.’ Sometimes racism accompanies it too. The entire process is wrapped in a metaphysical veil: that this is the will of nature, that it is a matter of religion, the will of God. We can see that this narrative is very powerful in Russia. We see this narrative even in the rhetoric of right-wing populist parties in Germany and other European countries. I will venture to say that we see this narrative in the United States as well: that enemies surround us, and we must defend ourselves.

We are perpetually engulfed in culture wars; we conjure up a mad gender ideology to frighten everyone; we become nationalists, authoritarians. We become nativists and insist that this is the only path, the natural path, and perhaps even the will of God.

The European Union, by contrast, is the lesson that Europeans learnt from history: that the path I have described leads towards conflict, towards violence, and may lead us to catastrophe. That is not the path we wish to tread, nor the one we are following. We offer the Georgian people an alternative, if that is also their choice,” declared Peter Fischer.